Bri Stauss and Chris Watson are in it for the long run. The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart winners may have hit a rough patch during the Monday, May 18, finale, but the couple is stronger than ever.
“With the fantasy suite, we were always on the same page since the beginning. It was the fact that we had this huge performance, you know, the biggest of our lives in front of celebrity judges in front of America,” Bri, 28, explains on Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast, addressing any tension between the twosome during the finale after they turned down the overnight date card. “We weren’t about to jeopardize that through staying up all night, just even talking. … We wanted to give it our all, and I had a lot of nerves.”
Once Bri and Chris, 30, hit the stage to perform for judges Taye Diggs, Rita Wilson, Jewel, and Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick, however, their chemistry proved to be impossible for Trevor Holmes and Jamie Gabrielle to compete with.
“We just have a real bond and vibe and it’s been amazing to explore,” Chris tells Us, noting that the couple didn’t feel pressure to turn their relationship on for the cameras when they hit the stage. “Luckily, Bri and I have not had to fake anything.”
Following the finale, Bri and Chris were able to see each other for a handful of weekends before the coronavirus pandemic forced them to record their debut album, Chris and Bri, which is out now, in separate studios.
“I learned that Chris is a very, very, very patient man,” Bri tells Us of writing and recording their album over FaceTime. “[He] just made me feel even more comfortable because, again, just going back to the show with performances and nerves, you know, he’s there with [Bachelor: LTYH band] District 78 and I’m here and he just made me feel like I could do it once again.”
Chris adds that the twosome is able to trust each other in and out of the studio.
“We really have grown a lot stronger in this time. It’s been beautiful. … I really do feel like we are prepared for the best and the worst, you know, when it comes to like, wanting to see relationship all the way through,” he says. “And I feel like we’ve just experienced so much together that it’s just like we have such a strong trust that if she’s going to tell me something, or if I’m going to tell her something, but we know that it’s just because we want the best for each other. And that’s like, the best thing that you can have at any relationship having a really strong trust.”
While the pair aren’t able to tour in person amid the COVID-19 crisis, that won’t stop them from playing their music — or planning their future!
“We’re taking it day by day with everything that’s going on, because it’s completely out of our control, sadly,” Bri says. “But I was planning on traveling back and forth quite a bit or moving to L.A.”
“We have a Patreon page that we’re gonna launch and be doing exclusive concerts on there. We’re gonna be going back doing live videos, cover videos,” Chris adds. “So like, you’re gonna see us singing to each other about each other with each other, just not probably physically together a whole lot. So it is what it is.”
Bri injected, “Yet! But soon.”
For more from Chris and Bri — including their thoughts on Jamie and Trevor’s relationship — listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.